Application of the Graded Response Model to a Scale of Empathic Behavior

Abstract

The results obtained from the application of the Graded Response Model (GRM) to the items of the Scale of Empathic Behavior whose authors are Auné, Abal and Attorresi (2017) are presented. The sample was obtained by accessibility and consisted of Argentine university students (80% Women). None of the items presented uniform or non-uniform gender differential item functioning. The GRM assumptions of local independence and unidimensionality were successfully corroborated. Threshold parameters tended to be located at low levels of the trait scale, whereas discrimination parameters were high. The analysis of the information function showed acceptable precision in low and middle empathic behavior level.

Keywords

• Emphatic Behavior
• Empathy
• Graded Response Model
• Item Response Theory